time, the
Norsemen became merged in the Slavs, but left traces of their origin
in the Sagas, the _Byliny_, which spread from Kiev all over Russia,
and still survive in some distant governments. Hence the Norse names
Oleg (Helgi), Olga (Helga), Igor (Ingvar). The word Russian, _Rus_,
the origin and etymology of which are shrouded in obscurity, was first
applied to the men-at-arms who formed the higher class of society in
the early Varanger states.

The next determining factor in the early history of Russian literature
is the Church. Vladimir, Prince of Kiev, married the sister of the
Emperor of Byzantium and was baptized; henceforward Christianity began
to spread (987-8), but the momentous fact is that it was the
Christianity of the East. The pearl of the Gospels, says Soloviev, was
covered over with the dust of Byzantium, and Russia was committed to
the Greek tradition, the Greek rivalry with the West and was
consequently excluded from the civilization of the West and the great
intellectual community of which Rome was the centre. This fact is of
far-reaching and momentous importance. No less important was the
introduction of the Slavonic liturgy, which was invented by two Greek
brothers from Saloniki, in the ninth century, who tried to force their
Macedonian dialect on all the Slavs, and succeeded in the case of
Bulgaria and Servia. A century or so later it reached the Russian
Slavs. Through Bulgaria, the Russians acquired a ready-made literature
and a written language in a dialect which was partly Bulgarian and
partly Macedonian, or rather Macedonian with Bulgarian modifications.
The possession of a written language acted as a lever as far as
culture was concerned. In the eleventh century, Kiev was one of the
most enlightened cities in Europe.

The rulers of Kiev were at this time related to the Kings of France,
Hungary, Norway, and even England. The Russian MSS. of the eleventh
century equal the best MSS. of Western Europe of the same period. The
city of Kiev was a home of wealth, learning, and art. Byzantine
artists went to Kiev, and Kiev sent Russian painters to the West.
There seemed at this time to be no barrier between East and West.
Nothing could be more promising than such a beginning; but the course
of Russian history was not destined to run smooth. In the middle of
the eleventh century, the foundations of a durable barrier between
Russia and Western Europe were laid. This was brought about by the
schism of